I fully respect your decision, but I'm just a small indie dev looking to make great games, and whether they are great in your eyes or not, that's purely subjective and I completely understand your concerns and respect your opinion. Now again, I'm simply defending my position a little bit here. Aside from the title screen it hits 60fps everywhere. I couldn't stand the controls when it was running at 30, so I made some sacrifices to ensure the game hit 60. The game certainly could look closer to its PC/Xbox counterparts, but then it would run at 30fps. The reason the game is lacking the graphical fidelity on other console platforms is because the game runs at a consistent 60fps. The graphics may not hold up well to a AAA game, but I did achieve something most all indie games cannot achieve on the Switch: a smooth consistent 60fps. It's unfortunate you did not enjoy the game as this game was a labor of love for me. Now I fully respect your opinion, but in such old-school retro games that this is inspired by, I was true to my vision and the combat is very reminiscent of what inspired The Forbidden Arts. The majority of the feedback we've received has been quite positive with overall average review being an 8/10. It’s certainly nothing that’s going to stick in your memory. Similarly, the design of the characters and enemies are passable, but again, it’s like the devs have created a group of stereotypical fantasy figures with very little to make them genuinely unique.
Villages feel empty of any character, and vast stretches of land will be completely devoid of anything interesting to see. Some of the areas are lovely and vibrant in colour, but the graphics overall - whether you’re out in the wild or in a dark and dingy dungeon - are flat and lack inspiration. You can converse with locals and, much like you can in the dungeons, go hunting for gold pieces. Outside of the dungeons, the overworld is explorable in fully 3D environments. This could have introduced an element of strategy if these had been spaced out more, but we rarely found ourselves running out of magical energy, and we occasionally even managed to clear an entire dungeon without making use of them. Replenishing your magic meter also requires you to stand near bonfires, drawing energy from the flickering flames until you’re back up to optimal strength. Using fire over your regular weaponry is rarely a good option, and sometimes won’t even faze the most basic of enemies. The fire element of the gameplay is, again, unfortunately rather half-baked. We feel like a bit more focus and energy on one mechanic or the other would raise the quality of the overall experience significantly. The action gameplay, as a whole, feels like it was tacked onto an otherwise fairly decent platform game. It will only take a few good hits to bring you down, and if you happen to land on a row of spikes, or even fall in a body of water, you’ll die immediately. Whilst the enemies are generally pretty easy to deal with in most instances, Phoenix has fairly lacklustre defensive capabilities. What’s more is that if you land a successful hit on an enemy, they’ll recoil with each blow, effectively allowing you to whack them again and again without worrying about leaving yourself open to a counter attack. Whether you're faced against a basic enemy soldier, a necromancer, or even a boss, all of the enemies have very straightforward attack patterns that are telegraphed from a mile off. The problem lies in the enemy AI, which is competent at best and downright awful at worst.
#THE FORBIDDEN GAME READ ONLINE SERIES#
Your can either attack enemies with a series of strikes with your weaponry, or throw a fireball in their direction, using up your magic energy as you do so.
The combat is where The Forbidden Arts really comes apart at the seams.